WOMP 2009 Schedule

A condensed version of the schedule may be found here.

"A Practical Guide to Life in Hyde Park and Beyond"
This has answers to practical questions about living in the University neighborhood. Written by Elizabeth Csima and edited by Travis Schedler, Rachel Epstein, and Anna Marie Bohmann.

Week 1

Day Morning
10:00am
Afternoon
1:00pm
Evening
Monday, September 14 Welcome and Tour of Hyde Park
Meet at 10:00am in Eckhart 203.
Algebra I, Mike Miller and Daniele Rosso
Linear algebra: fields, vector spaces, linear transformations, bilinear forms, dual spaces. Algebraic structures: groups, rings, ideals, modules, algebras, group rings, examples.
Tuesday, September 15 Topology, Katie Mann and Spencer Dowdall
Point-set topology. Topology and continuity (cf. convergence), compactness, connectedness, subspace/quotient/product topologies, metric spaces. Spaces of maps, compact-open topology. Examples.
Analysis I, Zachary Madden and Shawn Drenning
Measure Theory. Motivation for Lebesgue integration. Lebesgue dominated convergence theorem. Function spaces (L^p spaces), different notions of convergence (pointwise, uniform, L^p, in measure). Random variables, expectation, and independence.
8:00pm: Game Night in the Barn
Meet in the Barn (big room on the 3rd floor where Eckhart meets Ryerson) for board and card games.
Wednesday, September 16 Manifolds I, Timur Akhunov and Tam Nguyen Phan
Definition of smooth and topological manifolds. Examples. Calculus in R^n, change of variables. Partitions of unity. Inverse and implicit function theorems, tangent spaces, vector fields.
Forum on Life in Chicago
Learn about all Chicago has to offer. Bring questions if you have them!
Thursday, September 17 Analysis II, Catalin Carstea and Ariel Barton
Functional Analysis. Banach spaces, Hilbert spaces, topological vector spaces, strong/weak/weak^* convergence. Fourier series, Fourier transforms, Hahn-Banach theorem, spectral theorem.
4:30pm: Trip to Art Institute of Chicago
Meet at the #6 bus stop at 55th and S. Hyde Park Blvd.
Admission is free. Bus fare is $2.25 each way if you pay cash. See the museum website for more information.
6:30pm: Free performance of the Joffrey Ballet in Millenium Park
See the event website for more information.
Friday, September 18 Algebra II, Alan Anders and Anna Marie Bohmann
Matrices: determinant/trace, Jordan Form, characteristic polynomials, semisimple and nilpotent decompositions. Group representations, characters. Lie algebras, derivations, Lie algebra of derivations, representations of Lie algebras.
Algebraic Topology, Khalid Bou-Rabee and Rolf Hoyer
Homotopies, fundamental group, covering spaces and universal cover, fundamental theorem of covering space theory, group actions, homology of spaces, examples.
7:00pm: Hyde Park Bar Crawl
Meet at Seven-Ten Lanes, near 55th and Ellis. If you want to get dinner at Seven-Ten, make sure you are on time.
You must have either a passport or a US state ID/driver's license, it must be valid (not expired), and it must say that you are at least 21 years old.
Saturday, September 19 1:00pm: Walk from the Loop to the Lincoln Park Zoo
Meet at the #6 bus stop at 55th and S. Hyde Park Blvd.
Zoo admission is free. Bus fare is $2.25 each way if you pay cash. See the zoo website for more information.
Sunday, September 20 1:00pm: International Student Orientation
Note: This is mandatory for international students.
Takes place at International House, in the Assembly Hall. Lunch is included. See the event website for more information.

Week 2

Day Morning
10:00am
Afternoon
1:00pm
Evening
Monday, September 21 Manifolds II, Tom Church and Francis Chung
Lie derivatives, tangent bundles, vector bundles, fiber bundles, Lie groups, examples.
Category Theory, John Lind and Emily Riehl
Definitions, motivation, and examples. Functors and natural transformations, products and coproducts. Direct limits and projective limits.
6:00pm: Dinner at Medici
For more information, see the Medici website and a map.
Tuesday, September 22 Homological Algebra, Evan Jenkins and Aaron Marcus
Motivation, tensor/symmetric/alternating algebras, complexes, homology/cohomology of complexes, exact sequences, group cohomology.
12:00pm: Graduate Student Orientation
Takes place at Ida Noyes Hall. See the event website for more information. This includes lunch, information sessions, and refreshments at the Pub.
Graduate Student Social Hour
Following the Graduate Student Orientation there will be drinks, hosted by the Graduate Council.
Wednesday, September 23 Research Talks
Meg Shulman
Timur Akhunov
Ed Wallace
Tam Nguyen Phan
Research Talks
Keerthi Madapusi Sampath
Ian Shipman
Thomas Zamojski
Tom Church
Francis Chung
Damir Dzhafarov
Thursday, September 24 Department Orientation
Meet in Eckhart 206 for a formal welcome to the department.
Get University IDs
Those who have not yet gotten university ID cards should do so in the lobby of Regenstein Library, room 100F. Then...
Mandatory Exercise in the Quad
Get yourself pumped up for the evening dinner and bar crawl.
Some balls and/or frisbees will be provided. Bring your own!
6:00pm: Dinner in Chinatown followed by Bar Crawl on the North Side
Meet at the #55 bus stop at 55th and Woodlawn.
You will need a Chicago Card (preferred) or a lot of $1 bills to pay for public transportation.
If you are coming to the bar crawl after dinner, you must have either a passport or a US state ID/driver's license, it must be valid (not expired), and it must say that you are at least 21 years old.
Friday, September 25 Breakfast at the Pancake House
What could be better after a night of drinking than a pancake breakfast?
Meet at 10:00am at the Pancake House, near 51st St. and Harper Ave.
12:00pm: First Year Photos
Meet on the steps in front of Eckhart.
1:00pm: Forum on How to Get Through the First Year Program
Older graduate students will give their take on the first year program, and advice about what you can do to make it more useful and enjoyable.
5:00pm: Department Picnic
Organized by the second-year class.
Takes place outside, behind Eckhart.
Saturday, September 26 2:30: Walk Downtown for Dinner
Meet in the first-year office for a lakeside walk downtown to Giordano's Pizza.
Sunday, September 27 Nothing planned. Classes begin Monday!


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